The GCCE covers all aspects of cold storage warehousing and logistics. Roadware 10 Minute Concrete Mender™ is the go-to product for repairing cracks, joints and spalls in all kinds of refrigerated and freezer warehouse applications.

The cold environment and heavy weight traffic in a freezer warehouse represents the ultimate challenge for a concrete repair material. Roadware 10 Minute Concrete Mender™ has been used for over 20 years in tough cold storage environments.

After about 10 minutes, the repair was buffed smooth and open for traffic.

Concrete Mender™ repair is buffed smooth and ready for service.

About a week later, the bollard was again hit with a forklift and at the same angle. The repaired concrete held in place. The concrete broke on the other side of the bollard this time. Concrete Mender can’t stop forklifts from hitting bollards. It can help minimize the damage and make lasting repairs.

Concrete Mender floor repair one week after installation. The steel post was hit again with a forklift and is still holding in place.

There is a big problem with control joints or contraction joints. They are the saw cut joints we cut into concrete slabs to control cracking as the concrete cures. The problem is the floor owner typically wants the floor poured, joints cut, joints filled, and building occupied in 60 days or less. Concrete cures hard in typically 28 days, but it continues to shrink and crack for a about a year. The contraction joint that was 1/4″ when it was cut, can almost double in width in that first year leaving the 1/4″ of joint filler a bit short, cracked and generally a mess. The sidewalls of the joint are left unprotected and the joint spalling begins. You can replace all that gummy polyurea or brittle epoxy with Roadware 10 Minute Concrete Mender™ and leave your control joint problem behind.

Contraction joints (or control
joints) are joints cut into a slab shortly after pouring. The purpose of these joints is to control the cracking of the slab as it cures. Most concrete slabs shrink and sometimes curl for the first 12 months after pouring. Contraction joints allow the
slab to crack at pre-determined intervals instead of natural random cracking. Joint filler is used to protect the joints from spalling and chipping caused by traffic on the slab.

As the slab cures for the first
12 months, it shrinks in size and may even curl up at the joints. The contraction joints will expand as the slab shrinks. This causes the joint filler to split apart or dis-bond from the sides of the joint leaving them exposed to traffic.

When loads are rolled over the
joint. The force of the load has to transfer from the wheel, to the concrete, and to the base. If the slab is even slightly curled and the joint is expanded, the force of the load will impact on the joint causing cracking and spalling. You may even get stress cracking parallel to the joint. You can sometimes feel the uneven load transfer across the joint if you stand with one foot on either side of the joint and have someone else roll a heavy load across the joint.

Eventually, you get a spalled contraction joint. The joint filler has completely failed or is missing. Wheels go “thunk, thunk” every time they go over the joint. Productivity suffers, and the joint fills with dust and debris.

A popular and effective way to repair spalled contraction joints is to lock them back up with Roadware 10 Minute Concrete Mender™. Once the slab is 12 months old, the shrinkage and curling has finished. There is no longer a need for contraction joints. Now you can use Concrete Mender™ and silica sand to bond the slab back together from the base all the way up to
the top. This will stabilize the slab, restore aggregate interlock,
and allow for complete and even load transfer from the wheels all the way down to the base. Your contraction joint problems are solved.

NOTES: Locking up contraction joints
is recommended for interior controlled environment applications with sound concrete and base. Exterior applications may have different results. Always test a small section
of large repair for compatibility.

Freezer, chiller and cooler thresholds have been an ongoing challenge to floor repair contractors and the USDA since the 1950’s. Recognizing the need to keep refrigerated and frozen food storage areas clean and sealed so they will not harbor lichen, fungus and pests, the USDA has issued zero tolerance guidelines for floor cracks and spalls in all food processing and refrigerated food lockers. Unsealed and opened joints also come under the watchful eye of those charged with keeping America’s food supply safe. Because thresholds are freezing cold on one side and at room temperature on the other, the thermal stress on the concrete is unrelenting and unforgiving. Couple this with forklift and wheeled cart traffic and you have a formula for disaster.

Fortunately, 10 Minute Concrete Mender™ has become the accepted repair material for these very harsh conditions. The agency itself is forbidden from recommending one product over another, but the personal choice among active USDA inspectors is Roadware 10 Minute Concrete Mender™. It’s thin, it gets in, it won’t pop out.

Some minimal prep work is required when working in the cold. Have the cracks and spalls as clean and dry as possible. This may not be easy, but it’s a step professionals know better than to ignore. Next, apply Mender to the base and sidewalls to seal off any free moisture movement into the repair area. Immediately follow by filling the spalled area or crack, almost to the top, with manufactured sand or approved quartz. Flood the sand to refusal, making sure the Mender saturates each grain. For larger areas, a bulk mixed mortar of Mender and sand may be easier to handle and install. Keep all materials at room temperature or warmer to speed up cure time. Even then, one should plan on an hour or more if temperatures are extreme. However, since all conditions vary, onsite testing is the best way to insure the time at which freezer floors and thresholds will be traffic-ready. Contractor field reports are very solid in reporting that 10 Minute Concrete Mender is the only thing that works in these tough repair situations. Click here for step by step bulk application instructions.

Roadware distributor Bill Bacha of Precision Devices in Connecticut has developed an innovative way to create yellow safety markings in warehouse and cold storage floors. By simply using a 4′ core drill and Roadware Concrete Mender in Safety Yellow, Bill can mark safety areas that are permanent and can be applied at temperatures well below freezing.

For the first time, Roadware 10 Minute Concrete Mender™, the industry’s only Microdoweling™ concrete repair polyurethane, is available in 50ml mini cartridges. The mini cartridge offers precise application control that is perfect for repairing hairline cracks. Each mini cartridge comes with a needle tip mixer and is simple to use. Use the 50 ml cartridge with the Roadware 5150 application tool. Each cartridge will repair about 10 feet of hairline cracks or 3 feet of 1/4 x 1/4 inch cracks.

If your business is refrigerated warehousing or grocery distribution, Roadware 10 Minute Concrete Mender™ is the premier concrete repair product for keeping your floors in top condition. The unique Microdoweling™ polyurethanes in Concrete Mender™ will cure at temperatures well below -20 degrees F. ( -28 C) in just a few hours. You can repair cracks, spalls, slabs, joints, and surfaces while the warehouse is in service.

Features:

Easy to mix one-to-one ratio polyurethane.

Add manufactured sand to extend the material over to two times. Two gallons of Concrete Mender™ will make 4.4 gallons of repair material.

Ultra low viscosity for easy application and workability.

Microdoweling™ penetration into the concrete for load transfer bonding.

Cures only has hard as the concrete. Will not become brittle like epoxy.

Tough repairs that can take industrial levels of punishment.

Benefits:

Smooth and safe floors.

Less damage to forklifts and equipment.

Clean floors. Meets FSIS and USDA guidelines.

Less tipped loads and damaged product.

Reduced cleaning and floor maintenance costs.

Reduced workers comp claims attributed to accidents.

Cold environments such as walk-in freezers and refrigerated warehousing pose difficult challenges for repairing concrete. In temperatures less than 0° F, most repair materials become unworkable and may take many hours to set and cure. Most epoxies are not usable below 32° F. Roadware Polyurethanes have been used in temperatures as low as -20°F below freezing. Listed below are some problems and solutions for working in cold environments.

Cold Environment Challenges

Frost: Frozen moisture in the concrete will act as a barrier between the repair material and the pours of the concrete. Most repair materials will try to bond to the frost coated concrete. When the temperature increases, the frost melts and so does the bond.

Working Conditions: Working with materials in the cold is challenging to both man and materials. Mixing epoxies or mortars in the cold is especially challenging. As the temperature decreases, the viscosity and flow rate of these materials increase making them harder to mix and much more difficult to work with.

Curing: With most materials, cure times in cold environments are extended significantly. A product that normally cures in an hour at room temperature may take as much as 12 hours in a cold environment. Some materials may not cure at all before actually freezing solid.

ROADWARE Solutions

The extremely low viscosity and rapid cure times of Roadware 10 Minute Concrete Repair products make them excellent for cold environment application. Successful repairs are routinely made at temperatures below -20°F in freezer floors.

Preparation: Prepare cracks, joints, and spalls according to standard recommended methods. Make every effort to remove any moisture from the repair area. A propane torch or heat gun is very helpful in removing frost and moisture. In extreme cold, it is necessary to heat up the concrete prior to application.

Application: Keep material and sand or aggregate warm. Place materials in a warm area (between 70°F and 90°F) prior to application. Warm cartridges mix better, flow easier, and cure faster. Apply material as directed. It is a good practice to pre-wet all concrete surfaces with material before the introduction of sand. This insures full penetration and a strong bond.

Curing: Roadware materials are designed to cure in approximately 10 minutes when all components involved are at 70° F. In cold environment, the cure time depends on the temperature of the material, the temperature of the sand or aggregate if used, the volume of the repair, and the temperature of the concrete. Below is a chart of approximate cure times at various temperatures and conditions.

Storage: Roadware material should be stored between 60°F and 80°F. Material stored in extremely cold environments should be slowly brought up to room temperature before use. It may be necessary to agitate material subject to extreme cold prior to mixing. Call Roadware Technical Services for further instructions (800-522-7623).